Why do woman want to bellydance?  submitted by R.S.
(This questions was asked by a man.)

Dear R.S.,

Ah yes. It is a common and curious question. Woman and girls quickly become enamored about learning everything they can about bellydance, to the absolute surprise and astonishment of brothers, fathers, boyfriends and husbands. Its a phenomena that deserves a good answer.

Why do woman bellydance?

When a woman finds belly dance, its like a long lost friend suddenly knocked on her door. Someone she knew from the past and often wondered what happened to them. Its like getting acquainted all over again. This recaptured acquaintance is her own lost body awareness come back home again. The belly dance involves increasing awareness and celebrating being a woman. Its a personal growth relationship. It gives the tender places women inhabit meaning, art, value, and self worth. It provides a means of expression to the vast silence woman have endured when it comes to having a say in the course of history. Belly dancing counters centuries of puritanical prohibition against the body, and the even more specific message handed down that womens bodies are dirty and evil. The dance originates in the belly and brings beauty to life. It is seen as legitimate in the eyes and hearts of women because they are in control of their own dance, and dancing for their own pleasure and enjoyment. They arent trying to milk some Arab of his oil wells (well, not usually).

Women are often heard to say:

I must have belly danced in a past life!

I have always wanted to learn to belly dance before I can even remember.

I love the beautiful and exotic costuming of the Middle East and of ancient Egypt .

Belly Dancing sounds like a fun way to exercise ! I gotta belly!

I started bellydance as a gift to my husband but it was really an excuse to give me courage to belly dance for me!

Belly dance takes me back to the days of ancient temples and priestesses when people knew the Goddesses as well as the Gods.

I saw belly dance and fell into a trance. Its all I could think about.

Bellydance has always been a part of my Armenian heritage.

Truth:

Woman stay in their bellydance troupes longer than they stay married!

You never know who is an avid bellydancer. She could be your school principal, your financial advisor, your doctor, your librarian, your daughter, or your wife!

Theres a bellydancer in every home!

Many generations of dancers dance together in America now  mother, daughter and granddaughter.

Several magazines are devoted to the art of belly dance in America with a subscription base of mostly women.

Anyone care to add to this list?

 Answer by Delilah

Will belly dance improve my sex life? K.Y.

Dear K.Y.,

Yes. How could it not? When you are more awake inside your body it has to be an improvement. Sex is not an external event. It doesnt happen to you, it happens within you. Woman who wait for an orgasm to hit them may wait a long time. You must be actively alive and ride the waves of bodily sensation. Of course bellydance can improve your awareness, so can yoga, Tai Chi, swimming, or a good book!

Your process in learning to belly dance will include loosing all the dense un-alive spaces in your body, replacing them with inner awareness and illumination.

I would love to take a survey about the improvement in womens sex life.